Successful Conference Launch on the Use of Mobiles in Community Development

Credemus Associates launched the successful conference entitled 'The World in the Palm of Your Hands:SMS and Mobile Communications.' The conference took place on Friday the 2nd of March at the premises of DLA Piper in Central London and Ken Banks and Hadjo Van Beijma of Frontline SMS and TexttoChange talked about the possibility of creating local sustainable communication projects in Africa using SMS. They discussed maximising messages by linking SMS dissemination to radio programmes and other community messaging systems. The Founder of Credemus Associates, Fiyaz Mughal OBE also talked about the use of SMS in countering extremism in Pakistan that had been undertaken between 2010 - 2012. He spoke about the opportunities that SMS and mobile engagement provide such as giving rich data on public opinion in real time and in snapshots at specific times. Fiyaz also went onto talk about the work that Faith Matters (www.faith-matters.org) had undertaken in Pakistan on assessing public opinion using SMS immediately after the killing of Usama Bin Laden. The findings he suggested, were startling.

All three social entrepreneurs talked about the cheapness of using SMS which they effectively utilised using existing mobile networks and they also discussed health programmes that were developed on the back of the use of SMS. The use of SMS to check whether women were aware of their HIV status in Uganda was one programme for example that was undertaken by TexttoChange with over 90% of the women surveyed being aware of their HIV status. Compare that to the UK and it puts us all to shame!

The conference also provided participants with a strong insight into the use of social media and ensuring that messages are synergised using different social media sources. The conference rounded up with a panel discussion on the future direction of mobile use on community development work and the need to develop a space in the UK where such issues could be discussed. The good practice around SMS and mobile engagement with communities was highlighted at length and provided participants with plenty of good examples of work that they could undertake in this arena to increase innovation and community penetration. The future looks good; the future is certainly mobile!

The Rise and Rise of Mobile Phones in Africa

We within Credemus Associates are fully aware of the huge impacts that mobile phones are having on mobile money transfer, health services, within countering extremism programmes and in the registration of births and deaths just to name a few of the social projects where mobiles are having an impact.

The rise of mobiles in Africa just seems to steamroller on. For example, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco have over 71% mobile coverage in the countries, with countries like Somalia, Sudan, Chad, Niger and Mali having between 21-70% of their respective countries being covered by mobile networks. Who would think that Somalia, for example, war ravaged and destroyed by war and famine, would have such mobile infrastructure in place. Yet, in does, thanks in part to the business entrepreneurism of Somalis who are particularly adept at setting up telephone and internet facilities through micro-businesses in the country. This entrepreneurism has remained under the radar of Western countries who simply cannot see the huge potential and opportunities to support the development of Somalia and even to engage with these networks to counter war and extremism within the country.

SMS for example, has been used by Al Shabaab in Somalia to mobilise troops and to provide orders to units. This in itself shows the pervasiveness of mobiles and since they are easy to use and since they can be carried, they have become the natural medium of communication in developing countries.  The future of mobiles in Africa is going to take off and given that Near Field Technology will be coming into effect, the next 20 years will see Africa at the forefront of interactive mobile NFT engagement.

A Revolution Sweeping Developing Countries